Hagan Introduces Highway Bill for Eastern North Carolina

Today, U.S. Senator Kay Hagan announced that she has introduced a bill to designate two North Carolina highways as a “future interstate” that will begin in Raleigh and pass through Rocky Mount, Williamston, and Elizabeth City to Norfolk, Virginia. The Route to Opportunity and Development (ROAD) Act of 2014 will enable transportation improvements to U.S. Highways 17 and 64.

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Kay Hagan announced that she has introduced a bill to designate two North Carolina highways as a “future interstate” that will begin in Raleigh and pass through Rocky Mount, Williamston, and Elizabeth City to Norfolk, Virginia. The Route to Opportunity and Development (ROAD) Act of 2014 will enable transportation improvements to U.S. Highways 17 and 64.

“Designating these highways as a future interstate is another step in improving North Carolina’s transportation network,” said Hagan. “By continuing to invest in our existing infrastructure, we can put more North Carolinians to work, better link our state’s Capitol and the busy port of Hampton Roads to eastern North Carolina, and ensure federal highway dollars are spent wisely.”

Hagan’s bill ensures that the corridor connecting Raleigh and Norfolk is built to interstate standards, travels through eastern North Carolina, and that U.S. Highways 17 and 64 are prioritized when funds are allocated for federal highways—saving taxpayer dollars by improving on existing infrastructure. According to the Regional Transportation Alliance (RTA), half of the route already meets federal freeway standards, and last year a portion of U.S. Highway 64 between Raleigh and Interstate 95 was designated as a “future interstate.”

Senator Richard Burr is cosponsoring Hagan’s bill. An identical bill, H.R. 4829, has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative G.K. Butterfield and is cosponsored by Representatives Walter Jones, David Price, Howard Coble, Mike McIntyre, Mark Meadows and Renee Ellmers.

Senator Hagan has long pushed for the development of this high priority interstate corridor in North Carolina. In 2012, she wrote a letter to the Environment and Public Works Committee to ask for clarification that Corridor 13, extending from Raleigh to Norfolk, be directed through Rocky Mount and Elizabeth City.

According to estimates from the Federal Highway Administration, $1 billion in transportation funding can sustain approximately 30,000 jobs. These jobs are critical to continued economic development in eastern North Carolina.